How much do testers cost and what do their salaries depend on? Build a portrait of a successful QA-specialist

At the beginning of 2019, we (together with the Portals Software-testing.ru and Dou.ua) conducted a study of the level of remuneration of QA specialists. Now we know how much tester services cost in different parts of the world. And we also know what kind of knowledge and experience a QA specialist should possess in order to change a stuffy office and a modest salary, to a beach chaise longue and a thick wad of currency. Want to know more about everything? Read our article.

So ... Imagine the situation, you have come for an interview and you are asked a completely standard question about "Expected salary level". How can you not lose the answer? Someone will start pushing off from the RFP at the last place of work, someone from the average RFP for this job in Moscow, someone will take as a basis the level of salary, which your friend QA engineer bragged yesterday for a glass of tea. But you must admit, somehow this is all vague, I would like to know for myself the price for sure.

Therefore, any tester interested in money sometimes asks the following questions:
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• How much do I stand as a specialist?
• What skills need to be developed to increase your value to the employer?
• Will I not get more by changing my office work in Barnaul to the remote in Moscow?

Salary aka cash compensation is a kind of universal equivalent to the success of a hired professional in his professional field. If we discard the subjective personal and social factors, perhaps it will say nothing better than the salary about the qualifications and level of competencies of the hired specialist. But if we know everything about our level of income, then in what direction to develop, in order to increase this income, we can only guess.

According to the Pareto principle, 80% of the funds the employer / customer is willing to pay for 20% of our skills. The only question is what skills in modern realities are included in these 20%. And today we will try to pick up that key to success.

In our study, we decided to go, so to speak, “from a person,” and therefore we conduct a survey not at the level of CIO and personnel services, but at the level of individuals who are “interested” in the results of the survey: you, dear QA specialists.

Summary:

Entry: organization of the survey
Part one. The level of remuneration of QA-specialists in Russia and the World
Part two. Dependence of the level of remuneration of QA-specialists on experience, education and position
Part Three Dependence of the remuneration level of QA-specialists on the level of testing skills
Conclusion: Portraits of QA Specialists

Entry: organization of the survey

In this section you will find general information about the survey itself and its respondents. Want the most juice? Boldly scroll further!

So, the survey was conducted in December 2018 – January 2019.
To collect most of the data, we used the Google Forms questionnaire, the contents of which can be found at the link below:
goo.gl/forms/V2QvJ07Ufxa8JxYB3

I would like to thank the Software-testing.ru portal and personally Natalya Barantseva for the help in conducting the survey. Also, a separate thank you want to say: the portal Dou.ua , VK community "QA testing and seals" , telegrams channel "QA Channel" .

The survey involved 1006 respondents who work for companies from 14 countries in 83 cities. For convenience of work and data visualization, we have combined the geography of all respondents and their employers into 6 independent regions:

- Russia.
- Europe (EU zone).
- CIS.
- USA.
- Asia.
- Oceania.

The Asian region and Oceania had to be excluded because of their low representation in the sample.

How were the QA specialists distributed by employer region?

As the main currency of the study were selected US dollars. It’s not that we all get ZP in dollars, it’s just that there’s less zeros and more accurate conversion from other currencies.

What currency do QA specialists get paid for?

We managed to clearly identify 4 main salary ranges:
- less than $ 600 (with a median of $ 450);
- $ 601-1500 (with a median of $ 1050);
- 1500-2300 $ (with a median of 1800 $);
- more than $ 2,300 (with a median of $ 3,000).

97% of the positions indicated by the respondents were able to identify and classify according to the 4 classical categories of QA specialists. We deliberately took the classification adopted in international companies, because even in Russia, these terms are common, while the remaining 42.2% of respondents work for other countries.

How were the QA specialists categorized by job category?

Part one. The level of remuneration of QA-specialists in Russia and the World

To begin with, we will determine the level of RFP QA specialists in Russia and how it depends on the format of work.

How does the level of remuneration of a QA-specialist depend on his work format (Russia)?

Approximately half of all QA-specialists (48.9%) work in the office on a payroll from $ 601 to $ 1,500. Another third also works in an office format, almost equally divided into two camps: with salary <$ 600 (17.3%) and salary 1500 - 2300 $ (18.1%).

Interesting: The percentage of highly paid professionals is much higher among adherents of flexible office and remote schedules than among testers who are constrained by tight work schedules. As for freelancing, all of its few representatives indicated their level of income as <$ 600.

These indicators are peculiar not only to the Russian market of QA services. Similar trends can be traced internationally.

Comparison of the average wage of QA-specialists (Russia vs the World)

The salary benefits of flexible remote graphics are even better visible when compared to the global level. Probably, this is affected by the absence of the cost of the employer on the org. equipment, infrastructure and organization of the employee’s workplace, which are partially converted into his salary. So, if you dream of drinking cocktails on the ocean and earning 24% more than your colleagues fighting for the air conditioner remote from 9 to 18, you now have additional motivation.

Interesting: The RF salary in Russia lags behind the world in the case of the remote hard format (35.7%) and freelance (58.1%), and the freelance itself is at least as poorly paid, but much better developed abroad than in Russia.

You will ask: “Where do such salary figures come from? Probably one Moscow and Peter participated in the polls. ” No, colleagues. In cities, the geography of almost all of Russia is represented, but we did not dare to analyze the cities with less than 20 respondents in the context of the average salary. If you need someone, write to ask@quality-lab.ru, share data on the other cities.

The average level of remuneration of QA-specialists (cities of Russia)

The picture is predictable, the high salaries differ mainly in the million-plus cities, the exceptions being: Saratov, Krasnodar and Izhevsk. The capital is traditionally shared by the capital, but the top wages in the cities are closed by the Black Earth and Voronezh, the wage difference with Moscow is almost double (45.9%).

Interesting: We do not fully understand how Saratov entered the top three for wages. We would be grateful if you share your insights on this matter.

For those who have decided to work for a “decaying Europe” or the nearby CIS, we are in a hurry to please you. There is every chance to feel a significant increase in the RFP. Those who are already working for them probably know about it without us.

The average wage level of QA-specialists (regions of employers)

Everything is predictable, the level of wages for Russian employers is on average 10% lower than in the CIS, 14.8% more modest than in Europe, and 28.8% than in the USA.

Interesting: The level of salary in Europe and the CIS is not as varied as we had originally predicted (only 5.3%). Whether the globalization of the industry is to blame for this, the blurring of the notions “Europe” and “CIS” in the minds of the respondents, or it is difficult to say the economic prerequisites.

It is logical that large salaries attract more qualified specialists who are ready to work for a foreign company. The process of diversion of specialists becomes easier when large companies open branches in dozens of countries and cities, and remote work formats erase the remaining boundaries.

Where do QA specialists live and where do they work?

Record holder for recruitment from other countries - the United States, American companies work 15 times more QA-specialists than live in the states. In the CIS, on the contrary, they prefer to live rather than work for local IT companies. In Russia and the countries of the European Union, there is a relative balance between workers and living.

Interesting: Sometimes the only barrier that separates a specialist from the transition to the staff of the Euro-American employer, is the knowledge of languages. The labor market in Russia and the CIS was fortunate that this factor in our age still holds back the “brain drain”.

Part two. Dependence of the level of remuneration of QA-specialists on experience, education and position

We did not manage to reveal a direct dependence of the level of the RFP of QA-specialists on the education received. But we were able to draw very interesting conclusions about the impact of education on the position occupied by the specialist.

How does the position / category occupied by a QA specialist depend on his education?

The percentage of juna (junior) is highest among people with humanitarian, economic and secondary special education.
Good leads (lead) are obtained from students of technical specialties, lawyers, people with a degree and, attention logic, specialists with specialized management education.
Good senior (senior) out of techies and, notably, either people with school education, or specialists with two higher.
But the middle (middle) enough everywhere, except that among lawyers and ostepenennyh them a little less.

Interesting: Our statistics collected for the year of work of the online institute of testers (POINT), fully confirms the above-mentioned data on the formation of June. And the internal statistics of the company shows that technical specialists are growing the fastest on the career ladder.

How many disputes go around the classification of QA-specialists and wages by grades. Junior (junior), who receive as senior (senior), lead (lead) on the salary of the middle (middle) - a common practice in our days. Let's try to figure it out.

How does the level of remuneration of a QA-specialist depend on his position / category?

Let's start with the destruction of the main myth about the growth of seniors in managers. Going into leads is not a step up, but to the side! All the experience gained during the long years of work as a QA-specialist hardly helps in a new role, because you have to work not with code, but with people and plans. All this is well understood by the leadership, and in fact we see that neither salaries nor their structure among seniors and leads are fundamentally different.

The difference between the junas and middles is also not catastrophic. Yes, on average, the middle one more often earns $ 1500-2300 instead of $ 600. But like the junas, half of all middles receive salaries from the range of $ 601-1500.

Interesting: Where the salary jump is really visible is when comparing middles and seniors. salaries less than $ 600 are a thing of the past, and 57% of all salaries go into the range of $ 1500–3000. It remains to understand what the seigneur should be able to do and develop in this direction, but more on that later.

But experience, in contrast to education, directly affects the level of salary.

How does the level of remuneration of a QA-specialist depend on work experience?

The diagram below clearly shows how the indicator of low-paid specialists falls with experience in the profession and the number of salaries in excess of $ 2,300 increases.

How do remuneration ranges change as the experience of a QA specialist grows?

Jun important to hold out the first year. Even at the end of the year at the salary of $ 1500-2300, one-year-old testers may not count, but there is a good chance (56%) to become one of the specialists with a salary of $ 600-1500 per month.

Finally, judging by the salary, the specialist's value ends up forming between 4 and 6 years of work, coming to an average wage of $ 1500. After this point, the growth rate of wages slows down, for some it falls short of $ 2,300 a month, but overall, the experience after 6 years in the profession of a tester simply guarantees an income of $ 1,500-2,000, and then everything, as always, depends on the city, company, person.

Interesting: The growth rate of the QA-specialist in the first 3 years is 67.8%, while the growth rate of the salary in the period from 7 to 10 years drops to 8.1%.

Part Three Dependence of the remuneration level of QA-specialists on the level of testing skills

Remember, at the very beginning of this article we tried to understand our value as a specialist. And now for the testing skills analysis. What skills do QA specialists have and how does this affect their salary level?

What skills do QA specialists have the best skills?

Consider the necessary minimum of skills, without which we in the profession can not do.

What should every QA specialist know?

1. Skill localization and institution defects - The most common skill. 4 people do not own it at all, 16 - poorly own. And 98% of respondents have the skill well and perfectly.
2. Possession of bug tracking systems (Jira, Redmine, YouTrack, Bugzilla) - also, only 6 people are completely unfamiliar with this skill.
3. Web-based client testing - 81% of respondents have a good or perfect knowledge of them.
4. Possession of knowledge management systems and repositories of test cases (wiki, confluence, etc.) - the same 81%, but only 27% of them are perfect.
5. Possession of test-analysis techniques, test design and test combinatorics - this skill 58% of the specialists have good skills and another 18% are perfect. Should I get behind them?

Now consider the skills that can be considered scarce and, therefore, well paid in our profession.

What can boast to the employer / colleagues?

1. Experience in developing load testing scripts in JMeter or similar applications is the rarest skill. 467 people do not possess this skill at all (46.4%). 197 people own it at a sufficient level (19.6%). Only 49 people own it perfectly, and, 36 of them earn more than $ 1,500.
2. Possession of autotest results reporting systems (Allure, etc.) - 204 specialists have a sufficient level.
3. Ownership of drivers and add-ins for test automation - 241 specialists.
4. Possession of test frameworks for automation (TestNG, JUnit, etc.) - 272 specialists.

Interesting: The skills of load testing and automation were expected to be the rarest skills, which confirms the current situation on the QA-services labor market. The lack of automation and workloads is well traced by the level of their wages compared to other specialists.

What skills are paid best?

The most modest of all (up to $ 1410 per month) paid for the basic skills of bug tracking, skills in the field of web / mobile applications, test analysis and layout / adaptability.

Not far from them (up to $ 1560 per month) , the skills of testing integration and databases, knowledge of version control systems and logging have gone. On average, they are paid 10-15% better.

Even better (up to $ 1660 per month.) Skills of managing storage of test cases, possession of tools for monitoring traffic and the basic skill of localization and the establishment of defects are paid.

Well, and if you like the figure of $ 1770 , then, as mentioned earlier, welcome to the league of auto testers, workloads and continuous integrators, these are the skills that are best paid for in our research.

Interestingly, possession of the skills of load testing and automation increases the size of your salary, by an average of 20-25%, with an equal position and work experience.
A QA specialist with only one or even 2-3 skills is most likely a rarity in the profession. It is more correct to evaluate the qualifications and salary of a tester by the number of skills that he totally owns.

How does the level of remuneration of a QA-specialist depend on the number of skills he has mastered?

The myth of the profitability of specialization in testing did not justify itself. The number of skills in the tester's arsenal directly affects his salary. Each additional 5-6 skills in a specialist's money-box lead to an increase in wages by 20-30%. Most noticeable is the increase in salaries for specialists who have mastered more than 20 skills. Such "geeks" receive an average of 62% more than narrow-profile specialists with 5 skills in luggage.

Interesting: Only 12 people out of 1006 possess all the skills. All of them have a high level of RFP. All 12 people work in the office, all have extensive experience (only one respondent has experience of 2-3 years, the others are evenly distributed according to experience 4-6, 7-10 and more than 10 years).

Conclusion: Portraits of QA Specialists

Instead of boring conclusions and summaries, we decided to draw verbal portraits of QA specialists with different salary levels. Portraits are far from ideal as they reflect a certain set of QA-specialists, and therefore may differ from reality in particular cases. Total got four portraits.

Modest person

Portrait of a QA specialist with a salary level of up to $ 600.
Place of residence: small cities of Russia and the CIS.
Employer: mainly companies from Russia and the CIS.
Work format: freelance or hard schedule remote work.
Education: any, most often humanitarian.
Category / position: junior.
Experience: up to a year.
Good skills : 4-5 skills.
Must own at least:
- bug tracking systems;
- skills of localization and institution of defects;
- client testing of web applications or mobile applications;
- test analysis skills.

Middle class

Portrait of a QA specialist with a payment level of $ 600-1500.
Place of residence: major cities of Russia (Saratov, Novosibirsk, Kazan, Rostov, etc.) and the CIS, Europe.
Employer: mainly companies from Russia, the CIS and small European ones.
Format of work: mainly rigid office and remote work schedule.
Education: any.
Category / position: junior or middle.
Experience: 2-3 years.
Good skills : 6-10 skills.
In addition to the basic set owns:
- skills of testing integration and databases;
- version control and logging systems.

Prosperous

Portrait of a QA specialist with a payment level of $ 1500-2300.
Location:
- Russia (capital);
- CIS (million cities);
- Europe.
Employer: companies with capital from Europe and the USA.
Work format: office formats and flexible remote.
Education: any, most often legal or managerial.
Category / Position: middle or senior.
Experience: 4-6 years.
Good command: 11-18 skills.
Must additionally own:
- knowledge management systems and test cases repositories;
- traffic monitoring tools;
- version control systems.

Tolstosum

Portrait of a QA specialist with a salary level of $ 2300.
Location:
- without reference to the place (man of the world);
- Russia (capital);
- CIS (capital);
- Europe (major cities);
- USA.
Employer: companies from Europe and the USA.
Work format: flexible office or flexible remote format.
Education: any, but better technical.
Category / Position: Senior or Lead.
Experience: > 6 years.
Owns well: more than 19 test skills.
Required skill baggage includes:
- 2-3 automated testing skills;
- 1-2 load testing skills;
- possession of continuous integration systems.

We hope now it will be a bit easier for you to evaluate yourself (as a QA-specialist) in the labor market. Perhaps this article will help someone to have patience, to study and start growing in the most profitable direction. Someone will have the courage and the data to talk with the head about the salary increase. And someone will finally decide to leave their native latitudes and will move to live on the coast of Thailand.

Whoever you are, we wish you good luck, because where and how much to grow you already know about.